Correlates Of Criminal Behaviour Flashcards
Why did the crime rates go up in the 1960’s/1970’s?
New drugs (Valium - benzodiazepines, marijuana, fentamines, LSD)
Hippies used these ^
Political problems (JFK & MLK assassinated) = counterculture (resistance)
Vietnam war in the U.S - introduced conscription (crisis in legitimacy)
Way the crimes were reported
Alcohol increase
Baby boomers - lots of young people
Why did crime rates go down after the 1990’s?
Are we better people today?
= researchers argue yes
Lots of reform and movements in the past
More accepting of people in different backgrounds
= immigration
= gender
= gay, children and animal rights
No longer accept intimate violence
Have moved to a more restorative approach (kinder approach)
Increased focus on public health
= realized addiction is a DISEASE
Correlation is not a “______”
What is correlation?
Cause
Correlation:
A phenomenon that accompanies another and is related in some way to it
NOTE: no single factor explains crime
What are some more explanations for the decline in crime?
Aging population
Increased use of surveillance technology
Increased ‘screen time’
- MORE likely to stay home = MORE likely to not be out and commit crimes
Increased immigration
Shift to community policing
More affordable electronics
- criminals are LESS likely to take the risk of stealing = when they can get it for CHEAP
Decreased use of lead in gasoline
- found in 60/70’s = caused brain damage in children
Increased access to abortion
- LESS unwanted, abused or neglected children = who are MORE likely to commit crimes
More women in leadership roles
What are 5 correlates of crime?
What are the 2 most important?
- Age (MOST IMPORTANT)
- Gender (MOST IMPORTANT)
- Ethno-racial background
- Socioeconomic status
- Drug and alcohol use
Why is age a correlate of criminal behaviour?
Young people are disproportionately involved in crime generally and in violent crime specifically
Exceptions are political crimes, corruption, and collar crimes white-collar crimes
Most crimes committed by Canadian youth are non-violent
What are the top 5 most common offences for youth crime? (Statistics Canada, 2021)
- Assault- level 1 (ex. Push or spit on someone)
- Mischief
- Shoplifting under $5,000
- Uttering threats
- Assault - level 2
What is the most common violent crime for youth?
Assault 1
(No physical harm to victim)
Youth are more likely than adults to victimize “_______”
Youth are more likely than adults to commit homicide as a “_____”
Strangers
Group
Why are young people more likely to commit crime?
Adrenaline rush, bored, need excitement
Less responsibilities (don’t have as many as adults)
Brain development
Peer pressure (committing crimes as a group)
Unsteady environment (less financial stability)
What was found in the study of the nucleus accumbens in youth brain development?
As someone ages, their emotional development increases
NUCLEUS ACCUMBENS: wants what rewarding & exciting
(Sex, drugs, maybe criminal activity etc…)
The prefrontal cortex lags in development behind the nucleus accumbens
What is maturational reform?
The fact that people are less likely to commit crime as they grow older
Physiological limitations
Jobs and marriage are incentives to conform
- have responsibilites we don’t want to risk losing
People come to depend on us (social bonds)
More socially responsible as we age out of youth
e.g., less likely to ‘get wasted’ on weekend
What is the gender gap in violent crime in correlates of criminal behaviour?
How are boys socialized differently than girls?
This gap is due to the result of cultural processes & structural positions
Boys are socialized ”differently” than girls
= more aggressive
= more physical strength
= more risk taking
Violent delinquency = function of social learning
Girls who accept more “_________” gender definitions
are “____” likely to become involved in violent crime
Traditional
Less
Girls are “socialized” to:
= help mom & nurturing
= sexual virtue
= play w/ dolls, being a motherly figure ”ethic of care”
Families also more stringently “_____” young girls
Monitor
The “_________” disadvantage influences male and female violent crime
In general, the most “______” males are those who are the most disadvantage
Structural
Violent
True or false. Structural disadvantage has less of an impact on men’s criminal behaviour than on women’s
False
Structural disadvantage has greater impact on men’s criminal behaviour than on women’s
What are the 5 pathways for women’s involvement of crime?
- Harmed and harming women
- Battered women
- Street women
- Drug-connected women
- Other women
Who was Reena Virk?
What happened?
14 year old girl viciously beaten and murdered (drowned) in 1997 in Saanich, BC by a group of 8 youth (one boy; seven girls) between ages of 14 -16
Warren Glowatski and Kelly Ellard charged with
second-degree murder
Other six involved in beating given conditional (up to one year) sentences
Reena was bullied in school-based on her clothing, looks, weight and ethnicity
What is the moral panic perspective?
(Stanley Cohen- 1973)
Impact media played in shaping public perception concerning youth crime in England in 1960s
often relying upon exaggerated statistics
Condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to defined as threat to societal values and interests: become Folk Devils
Moral boundaries are policed by politicians, church
leaders and other right-minded people
What are folk devils?
Typically male…
= unemployed male youth (Newfoundland)
= inner-city African American young men (USA)
Folk devils = can be considered “scapegoats”
Can also be girls/women…
= witches
= flappers (1920’s)
= nasty girls (1990’s)
Ex. Kelly Ellard
Many subsequent studies on moral panics noted the focus on youth…
What are some examples?
Satanic cults
Gangs
Date-rape drugs (Rohypnol)
Drug use (especially crack-cocaine)
= war on drugs
Nasty girl moral panic represents projection of late-modernity “_________” onto crime/criminals
Nasty girls have also been viewed as sinister products of “_________”
Anxieties
Feminism
- women started to work, had liberation, choosing not to have kids etc..
= gave people anxiety (moral panic)
= thought women were *selfish for choosing these things *
= they should ‘behave and be a good wife and have children’
= Western culture promotion of ‘bad girls’ (‘girl power’)
Issues of “______” are at the centre of girl violence
What is found in these studies?
Power
Locates girl aggression in society characterized by sexism, abuse and inequality
Many violent girls have psychosocial problems:
dysfunctional families, internalization of sexist gender roles; lack of anger management skills
What is ethnic and racial background in correlates of criminal behaviour?
Data is limited because Canadian police do not consistently report information on the race of those involved in crime
Those who oppose collection of data on race argue what?
There is difficulties in police identifying race
Potential for statistics to be used to justify racist theories of crime and discriminatory treatment of minorities
Those who believe that race information should be collected argue what?
To verify accuracy of claims of differential treatment
Data could be used to test theories about the relationship
What is the problem of concentrated incarceration?
Data that does exist, suggests that some minority groups are overrepresented in police-reported crime statistics
This seems to be present in all Western societies
What are the regional differences of concentrated incarceration in Canada?
Black Canadians overrepresented in GTA (greater Toronto area)
Indigenous Canadians overrepresented in Western
provinces
Black inmates report that many corrections staff believe that they are members of a “______”
This shows “________” attitudes
Gang
Prejudicial
Black inmates are more likely to what?
- Experience the use of force by prison staff
- Receive more charges while in prison
- Be denied parole despite lower recidivism rates
Do black Canadians report being racially profiled by the police?
Yes
Many Black Canadians report experiencing directly or knowing someone who was racially profiled by the police
Toronto survey in 2005 found that Black high school students who were not involved in any deviant activity were 4-times more likely to be stopped and 6-times more likely to searched than their White colleagues
What happened in the Bill Blair video (was chief of police in Toronto, now is politician)?
He said:
“Any police officer that has done racial profiling — that is illegal”
He admitted “yes” that racial profiling has happened…
But that happened under HIS POWER he should of stopped it
= hypocritical
Who is also 3-times more likely to report contact with the police than other Canadians?
Indigenous, Black and West Asian youth
“Nearly every African American believes that they will
encounter racial prejudice and racial discrimination during their lives because they’re black”… and many believe that they live in a systemically racist society”
What is this view reinforced by?
Give an example
Reinforced by experience with discrimination
Injustices generate extreme negative emotions (e.g., anger, depression)
= contributing directly to criminal involvement
Ex. Being watched while shopping; seeing many in their
community go to jail; exposure to media stereotyping
What is the colonial model?
(Structural theories)
Indigenous society colonized by Euro-Canadians, which has had…
= devastating psychological and social consequences
Institutional arrangement of Canadian society has resulted in alienation and this alienation is manifested through…
= high rates of violence within Indigenous communities
What is the historic trauma transmission model?
(Structural theories)
Acculturation produces…
= “learned helplessness” (fatalism)
= self-blame, passivity, hostile behaviours & low self -esteem
= manifests itself in drug use, suicide, violence, criminal behaviour
Trauma transmitted…
= biologically
= through storytelling
= directly through experiencing violence
= psychologically through painful memories & debilitating social conditions
What is critical race theory?
(Structural theories)
Indigenous people are *overrepresented in the CJS *because of their exclusion from mainstream society and because of over-policing & harsher sentences
CJS reflects dominant group’s norms and values and favours that group
Ex. more severe punishment for crack versus cocaine resulted in Black Americans being criminalized
What are the 3 parts of differential treatment theory?
(Structural theories)
Police often give closer attention to certain social
groups
(Ex. young, lower-class males)
Minority group members disproportionately represented in group
Police surveillance higher in communities marked by
high levels of unemployment, poverty and social
disorder
= minority group members disproportionately represented these communities
What is critical race theory?
Focuses on racial inequalities in the distribution of social goods, in the economy, within the state, and within civil society
Criticizes liberal notions of objectivity, meritocracy,
neutrality, and colour-blindness
Rooted in the work of W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963)
Emerged in the 1970s in the US when anti-racist lawyers started questioning the legal system and the way it treated black defendants and inmates
What is the Negro family case (Aka. The case for national action)?
Argued that social problems within the African American community in the US were…
= owing to ‘pathological’ matriarchy
Higher percentage of black wives out-earned their husbands compared to white wives
Argued that this undercut the role of the father in black families…
= led to domestic violence, substance abuse, crime and degeneracy families
Matriarch is:
= the ABSENCE of a FATHER
= system/society RULED BY A WOMEN
= domineering, unfeminine, and emasculating
Who was W.E.B Dubois?
Argued that female-headed African-American families = were outcome
RATHER THAN…
= cause of racial oppression and poverty
Who was William Julius Wilson?
Graphed a ‘marriageable Black male index’
Found that fewer than 50 marriageable black men (employed, that unincarcerated black men) per 100 black women:
“if black women didn’t work to provide for family, who would?”
Who was Patricia Hill Collin’s (1990)?
Argues that ideal North American Family
(father working outside the home; mother working in the home)
WAS AN:
= upper-class arrangement-never applied to families of colour
= perhaps owing to slavery when families were broken apart (‘family’ expanded from being based on bloodlines to being based on racial lines)
This broader notion of family contributes to the practice of many African American parents relying on extrafamilial community members to raise their children
“Systematic racism is the racism that’s “____” over after you get “___” of the racists”
Left; rid
“Once you get rid of the racists within the justice
system, for example, you will still have racism
perpetrated by the justice system. This is because the
justice system follows certain rules, procedures,
guidelines, precedents, and laws that are inherently
discriminatory and racist because those laws, policies, procedures, processes, and beliefs…come from a history of the common law”
What is socioeconomic status in correlates of criminal behaviour?
Historically, lower classes have been seen as responsible for crime
Referred to as “dangerous class,” “criminal class” or
“underclass”
‘underclass’: explicit socio-economic correlations:
= they are people at the margins of society: the unemployed, people in poverty, little education, dependency, etc
The relationship between SES and crime is “______”
Why is this?
Complex
People with low SES are overrepresented in police-
reported statistics
= to some extent this is because the crimes of the “middle and upper crime class systematically escaped official notice” (Gaylord and Galliher, 1988, 68)
Relationship between class and crime is “_____-and____-“
specific
What does this mean?
Class-and-crime
Different classes involved in different crimes because they have different opportunities to commit crimes
What are the 3 fundamental findings in socioeconomic status in correlates of criminal behaviours?
- The link between SES & crime is indirect
= mediating variables (e.g., neighbourhood, family conditions) -
Low-SES promotes delinquency
= because of alienation, financial strain & aggression -
High-SES promotes delinquency
= by reducing adherence to conventional values while increasing social power and risk-taking behaviours
What is spatial location in correlates of criminal behaviour?
Neighbourhoods with higher rate of homicide:
= higher levels of unemployment
= higher levels of poverty
= lower levels of education
Indigenous Canadians living in cities more likely to live in higher-crime neighbourhoods
What is collective efficacy theory?
What is collective efficacy?
What is low collective efficacy?
(Spatial location as a correlate of crime)
Based on Chicago neighbourhood studies
Crime found to be higher in communities with increased structural disadvantage and lower collective efficacy
Collective efficacy:
- social cohesion among neighbours combined with their willingness to intervene on behalf of the common good
Low collective efficacy:
- high mobility; immigration concentration; concentrated disadvantage
What is the story “Outliers” by Malcom Gladwell about?
He explores the hidden factors that contribute to success, such as timing, opportunities, cultural background, and the 10,000-hour rule
Gladwell argues that success is not solely about individual talent and hard work
BUT…
Is also shaped by external circumstances and the support one receives.
The book challenges the idea of the “self-made” individual
What did the wallet experiment show?
The Reader’s Digest wallet experiment dropped wallets with money and ID in different locations to test honesty
The results showed that most people (about 80%) returned the wallets, even with money inside, demonstrating that…
= most individuals act honestly when given the opportunity
What is drug and alcohol misuse in correlates of criminal behaviour?
Use of illicit drugs strongly correlates with street crime
75% of inmates enter custody with substance abuse
issues; addictions
50% of federal inmates struggle with substance
Over 40% of crimes committed by offenders admitted to
Canadian federal institutions (excluding impaired driving or
violations of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act)
= are associated with substance use (2021)
What are 3 factors that link substance abuse and crime?
- Efforts to support an addiction can lead to involvement in crimes (“economically compulsive”)
- Individuals may commit crimes because they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol (“psychopharmacological”)
- The mere possession of illegal drugs in and of itself is a crime
